On Wednesday, considering that the crisis in Venezuela represented "a clear threat to peace and security", 12 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America region signed at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) a resolution to convene a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the signatory countries of the Inter-American Treaty of Mutual Assistance (TIAR) so that, in the second half of September, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, decides on measures to be taken against the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela.

The 12 member countries of TIAR that signed this resolution are : Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the latter represented by the delegates of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Recall that Venezuela had withdrawn from this treaty in 2013 on the initiative of the late President Hugo Chavez, but last July, the Parliament led by Guaidó approved the return of the country in this pact of defense, a decision that the Executive of Maduro does not recognize. For its part, Mexico strongly opposed.

The raison d'être of this treaty is that any attack against one of the member countries is considered an attack on all members and obliges the signatory countries to take measures, including if necessary the military recourse, to defend the Attacked state. The TIAR, also known as the "Rio Treaty" (a kind of US NATO that paves the way for military intervention) is an agreement signed in 1947 (before the founding of the OAS). 17 countries are currently members of TIAR: Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.

In the case of Venezuela, member countries have used Article 6 of the Treaty, which sets out reasons other than armed aggression, leading to the application of the treaty "If the inviolability or the integrity of the territory or the sovereignty or political independence of any American State should be affected by an aggression which is not an armed attack or by an extra-continental or intra-continental conflict, or by any other fact or situation might endanger the peace of America, the Organ of Consultation shall meet immediately in order to agree on the measures which must be taken in case of aggression to assist the victim of the aggression or, in any case, the measures which should be taken for the common defense and for the maintenance of the peace and security of the Continent."

According to the adopted resolution, the signatory countries estimate the situation in Venezuela enters in the case of this article estimating that "the crisis in Venezuela has a destabilizing impact and represents an obvious threat for the Peace and the security in the Hemisphere" In addition, it has been alleged that "the presence of narco-terrorist groups (FARC and ELN), acting in complicity with an illegitimate government, endangers not only Venezuela, but also neighbors like Colombia. "

At the meeting to be held later in September, the signatory countries of the TIAR will have to decide what pressures to use on Maduro and determine if they break the diplomatic and economic relations, or if they will go further and declare for example a blockade maritime and air transport.

A sea blockade would mean that tourists traveling to Margarita Island (one of Venezuela's greatest tourist attractions) could no longer enter the island. If an air blockade were applied, no aircraft bound for or from Venezuela could not cross the airspace of the TIAR countries.

The ultimate option, the most aggressive included in the Rio Treaty, is the possibility of "resorting to armed force," but for the moment, some countries like the United States, have said that this option was not Costa Rica, which abolished its army more than 70 years ago, asked the signatory countries of TIAR to include in the text of the resolution only measures that "contribute to the peaceful restoration of democracy in Venezuela "which would exclude military recourse. However, this proposal was rejected and the military option remains possible even if it does not currently reflect the position of the countries of the TIAR.